‘Century Crunch’ street closure near LAX starts Friday night

The bridge over Century Blvd. at Aviation Blvd. will be torn down, causing LAX commuter delays while the work is being done. Between July 25-28, the intersection will be closed. July 18, 2014. (Brad Graverson / Staff Photographer)

People planning to travel to Los Angeles International Airport this weekend should give themselves plenty of time and consider alternate routes because a stretch of Century Boulevard will be closed for 57 hours closure beginning Friday night.

The so-called “Century Crunch” closure will shut down the popular route beginning at 9 p.m. tonight, as crews demolish a defunct railroad bridge at Century and Aviation boulevards. Century will remain blocked until 6 a.m. Monday.

The bridge demolition will make way for a light rail station for the Crenshaw/LAX line, which will connect the Metro Green and Expo lines.

“Angelenos, we’ve been through this before, and we’re asking for your patience as we tear down an old bridge to make way for a state-of-the-art light rail system,” county Supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas, a member of the Metro board of directors, said last month when the closure was announced.

“So we’re asking you to reroute your drive for two days at the end of July. In return, we’re going to build you a system that will ultimately connect our urban center to LAX and the South Bay.”

In the meantime, the weekend-long closure could cause traffic headaches for airport-bound travelers and motorists around the Westchester area. Metro officials said about 92,800 motorists travel through the Century/Aviation intersection every day.

With Century Boulevard blocked, motorists heading toward LAX will be diverted north on La Cienega Boulevard, west on Manchester Avenue, then south on Airport Boulevard, back to Century. Motorists leaving LAX will take the same detour in reverse.

Lanes will also be reduced on Aviation Boulevard during the demolition.

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Metro officials also noted that once the bridge is demolished, Century Boulevard will remain reduced by one lane in each direction for the next 16 months, leaving three lanes each way.

The high-tech command center, purchased in December with funding from the Department of Homeland Security, will provide officials with real-time operational information, according to Crenshaw/LAX Transit Corridor Project Director Charles Beauvoir.

“The idea is to keep things moving well and adapting very quickly to each situation. ... We want the overall experience to be a very well-run machine,” Beauvoir told Video News West.

The Southern California 5-1-1 service, which offers traffic updates on users’ cellphones or over the Internet, will offer information specific to the closure. Motorists can call 5-1-1 on their cellphones and, after an automated greeting, say “Century Crunch.” The service will then provide information on detour routes and updates on the closure.

Callers can also say “traffic” to receive updated traffic information for roads leading to the airport.

Real-time traffic maps and public-transit alternatives will also be available at the www.Go511.com website. Smartphone users can also download a Go511 app from the iTunes and Google Play stores.

The 8.5-mile, $2.058 billion Crenshaw/LAX line will run from the Metro Expo line at Exposition and Crenshaw boulevards and connect with the Green Line near the airport. The station at Century and Aviation could then be connected to the airport with a people mover system.